Association between C3orf21, TP63 polymorphisms and environment and NSCLC in never-smoking Chinese population

Recently, two genome-wide association studies in Asia identified gene polymorphisms known as rs4488809, rs9816619 in TP63 and rs2131877, rs952481 in C3orf21. It has been proposed that these polymorphisms are susceptibility loci for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) development among Japanese and Korean populations. We ask whether susceptibility to NSCLC is limited to the Chinese population or whether the environment also affects genetic polymorphisms. We conducted a matched case–control study to explore this question. Results show that polymorphism of TP63 was not associated with NSCLC development, whereas variant genotypes of C3orf21 were nominally associated with a reduced risk of lung adenocarcinoma (OR = 0.619, 95% CI = 0.390–0.976). These results strongly suggest that environmental agents interact with human genetic polymorphism independent of ethnic background. In addition, the C3orf21 gene may be a potential susceptibility marker for lung adenocarcinoma independent of ethnic background and environmental agents.

► TP63 was not associated with NSCLC risk in never-smoking Chinese.
► C3orf21 was susceptibility gene for lung adenocarcinoma in never-smoking Chinese.
► Environmental agents affect genetic polymorphism.